Staff recently had a Faith Formation Day. This is the one day in the year where the focus is on our context as a Catholic school and what that means to us collectively and on an individual level.

The theme for the College this year is Living Mercy. In the spirit of the theme, the formation day explored our heritage through the Gospel, and positioned the Mercy Values of compassion, respect, justice, courage, hospitality, and service within the Christian story.

We were challenged to see ourselves as agents of change in a world that is in need of reflection and action based on our Christian call.

We were joined by Juliet Talarico from Young Mercy Links. Juliet helped us to understand the focus of Laudato Si: Care for Our Common Home and the eighth work of Mercy as declared by Pope Francis in 2016. Juliet explored the idea of having an ecological identity. Thus, challenging us to not only have ecological ideas but to also have an ecological self that places us within a holistic cycle of the environment.

Juliet left us with some powerful quotes to reflect on and inspire us in the work we do with our students:

‘Young people...are empowered to take action – we must listen to their voices and help them take action.’ (Jane Goodall)

‘Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.’ (St Francis)

We ended the day honoring our Catholic tradition with a Mass led by Fr Matthew Restall. The Mass was celebrated in the open air. Even with the brisqueness of the breeze, and a dark and cloudy sky as the back drop, all staff standing together as one was a true representation of community coming to the table as one, unified in our vision.